tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6201655051749719463.post3321465095093830294..comments2023-11-02T06:12:03.662-07:00Comments on The Gaulin Wife: No Human Being Is AlienHelen Klonarishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10151447299029848463noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6201655051749719463.post-23885121861622371402009-07-05T01:41:24.082-07:002009-07-05T01:41:24.082-07:00Wow.. I went to school with John's daughter. I...Wow.. I went to school with John's daughter. I was aware that he's known for writing controversial pieces, but I wasn't aware he was there during the UBP days. That's very interesting. Helen, please shoot me an e-mail. I'm live in the bay area as well, and would love to connect.Lofton Newtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10141539424947545106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6201655051749719463.post-56893855124055049042009-04-02T06:58:00.000-07:002009-04-02T06:58:00.000-07:00What seems sad to me is, not just the complicity o...What seems sad to me is, not just the complicity of white bahamians, but most bahamians, in this kind of thinking. There is little mainstream challenges to the explicit xenophobic and racist premises in his writing as there is to his political bias', responses which still pretty much accept these basic underpinnings. I am reminded of something someone said to me once when I was ranting about how Haiti and Haitians are marked as some kind of pre-colonial 'savage africans' which obscures not only history but the actual real work we face in creating both an inclusive and viable civil society- 'it's true you know, if haitians looked more like cubans we would probably like them more.' Putting aside the whitening of cubans, I thought this was one of the most sad and yet in some ways true, statement I'd ever heard.Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14922885939935952860noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6201655051749719463.post-91291041596943331752009-01-27T08:16:00.000-08:002009-01-27T08:16:00.000-08:00Helen, I have not read the editorial in question, ...Helen, I have not read the editorial in question, but I'd like to respond to your report of what was said. My first question is, is there really a mass ilegal immigration of Haitian to the Bahamas going on right now? If there are masses of Haitian boats landing right now I have not heard of them. This sounds like a wild, unsubstantited statement, bad journalism indeed. And did he really call Haitian refugees the single greates threat to our future? In my opinion, it is our country's indifference to the women and children who are starving to death in Haiti which threatens us more. And what is up with his fear of creolization, with his old, dinosaur self? He needs to get a grip and understand that yes, we Caribbean people are indeed already creolized, as we should and must be if we're all going to survive. And let me say , I'm disgusted that he would refer to us in animal terms. Doesn't he know what a cliche Colonial racist this language shows him to be? I totally support your condemnation of his so-called insight. I'm grateful for the internet and for citizen journalism which is ending the era of elitist editors like Marquis and their corrupt domination of news and opinions.<BR/>Thank you for your voice.<BR/>In hope.Lynn Sweetinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11961544928890612432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6201655051749719463.post-68583270564195783802009-01-25T22:03:00.000-08:002009-01-25T22:03:00.000-08:00Thank you Nico; that is a very interesting piece t...Thank you Nico; that is a very interesting piece to this story, and to understanding Marquis' perspective. I'm curious: how does knowing that alter or complicate this dialogue for you? By suggesting (confirming) the complicity of white Bahamians in the perpetuation of the perspective he espouses? Showing the intricacies of race and how they are playing out in our reactions to Haitian refugees? Thank you for this...Helen Klonarishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10151447299029848463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6201655051749719463.post-22570396702905572492009-01-25T19:58:00.000-08:002009-01-25T19:58:00.000-08:00I removed the last post because it was incomplete....I removed the last post because it was incomplete.<BR/><BR/>What I said was: we need to understand some history of our own. Specifically, we need to understand John Marquis' history with The Bahamas and know that his position may not be unbiased.<BR/><BR/>During the struggle for majority rule, when it became evident that the idea that black Bahamians could rule themselves, the white minority government took various steps to affect the democratic process. One of those steps, taken with limited success, was the encouragement of the immigration of numerous British expatriates who could be naturalized and who could become voters in time, and thereby balance out the so-called "radical" movement towards "black supremacy". Another was the engagement by the Nassau Guardian, the establishment paper of the time, of a young British reporter whose job was explicitly to write editorials in support of the regime. His name was John Marquis, and he left The Bahamas following Majority Rule.<BR/><BR/>The rhetoric he employed then was not unlike the rhetoric he employs in his discussions about Haiti. Reading his Guardian editorials from the 1960s will provide interesting comparisons with his editorials now. I do not regard him as an unbiased eye. Rather, I suspect he has an all-too-palpable bias. Human beings are not all equal; rather, they are tribes who are distinguished by collective, racial, inherited characteristics that determine the way in which they behave. It's an obsolete view of the world, but it's still influential.<BR/><BR/>Cheers.Nicolette Bethelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07709440253218285708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6201655051749719463.post-4384506934345334012009-01-25T19:42:00.000-08:002009-01-25T19:42:00.000-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Nicolette Bethelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07709440253218285708noreply@blogger.com